Thursday, 19 February 2009

This post may be unsuitable for minors or people upset by scenes of total doublethink.Well, the day has finally come. The Daily Mail has finally joined the rest of the world in accepting that MMR is safe, and that the 1998 study by Andrew Wakefield has been "debunked" (even though the study never says that MMR causes autism, a press release did and it was debunked 10 years ago). Measles is on the rise again, and that's actually a big deal. Kids are getting sick, people have died and someone is going to hang. This isn't just Wakefield's fault of course. No, he should not be a scapegoat! There are others to blame. Us, apparently. In a remarkable display of doublethink, the Daily Mail points the finger at "middle-class MMR refuseniks". Parents who somehow bought the press-release pseudoscience presented by Wakefield (minus the et al). They must have picked it up off Reuters, the wiley middle-class (yet strangely uncritical and credulous) bastards.

Of course, the Mail don't mention the media frenzy that followed the "confirmation" of Wakefield's 1998 work (by, er.. Wakefield). The evidence-free total bullshitstorm that presented Wakefield's speculations directly to that middle-(and working-) class audience as if it were yet another scientific "breakthrough". The torrent of jargon filled trash that published everything that vaguely supported the hypothesis but ignored the dozens and dozens of studies debunking it, milking that story for every millilitre of newspaper sales it had. And how could they, since up until a month ago the Daily Mail were still doing it? Still implying that MMR was dangerous. But today they've hit the reset button. And I feel like I just fell through the looking glass. It's funny, in a totally horrifying kind of way. Well, let me just say, so that we can be clear. And you'll have to forgive me for my profanity because it just feels like that sort of moment.

THIS WAS YOUR FUCKING FAULT, YOU MORONS.

I mean, seriously. Read your own articles. People are going to hang for this, but the media are the ones judging who, so the list will doubtlessly be restricted to:

-A. J Wakefield-The Middle Classes

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

Update 18:08: It's even crazier than I thought. A search for "MMR" on the Daily Mail reveals a similar article in 2008 blaming "mothers" for the oncoming measles epidemic. This article sits amongst yet more panic pieces calling MMR "controversial" and cagey coverage of the research that 'disproves MMR jab link to autism' (the quotes were in the headline as if incredulous). Clearly, the Mail spent 2008 being eased into a gentle but enormous u-turn.

7 comments:

I honestly don't know whether to be happy, sad, relieved or angry at this news.

I guess the reaction should be "nonplussed". It's hardly a surprise that now the Daily Mail have (apparently) changed their stance, they'll pretend they never ever had the alternative stance in the first place.

They are arguably covering their arse after Brian Deer's revelations and the Cedillo ruling. After years of misinforming the public, they are now telling us it wasn't their fault, even though they published a vaccine-austism scare story last month, but the parents they misinformed.

Alternatively they are not arse-covering, and all this case shows us is that the media is chaotic and random in its endorsements.

It could be that your second point is correct. Whilst they were fairly consistent in their condemnation of MMR for many years, they now seem to have reverted to their standard position on all scientific matters: that all opinions, so long as they're presented by "an expert", are equally valid.

Typical Daily Mail eh? Blaming everyone but themselves. I honestly think that without the daily mail, badscience would be a whole lot less interesting. It's almost as if we rely on them to come out with this c***.

See the following theory:The ‘theory of mind’ (ToM) hypothesis of autism. Tom is an hypothesis first published in 1985.Other articles ask what caused the autism epidemic? The CDC studies say it is not MMR or Thimerosal. Other hypotheses have included autoimmune diseases, etc.

Also, SIDS, Autism, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Plagiocephaly, etc. are allconditions that the medical profession is trying to treat. The SIDS back sleep (Supine) sleep recommendations began in 1992The SIDS "Back to Sleep" campaign began in 1994.In 1996 the AAP SIDS Task Force, led by Dr. John Kattwinkel recommended the supine sleep position and not the side(lateral) or front(prone).THe Netherlands began their SIDS Back to Sleep Campaign in 1987.Sleep is necessary for memory consolidation, declarative learning, and procedural learning.

The Biologista

Update: 03 April 2009

It's also a bit of a swipe at the recent New Scientist cover which rather excitedly pronounced "Darwin Was Wrong" before giving us an article that completely failed to fulfil that rather exciting prospect and instead talked about horizontal gene transfer as if it were both news to anyone in science (it isn't) and very prevalent in the tree of life (it's not).

Who he is

A research scientist working Somewhere in Europe, the Biologista believes that everyone can become a scientist in their day-to-day lives. He'd really like you to become an everyday scientist too.
thebiologista@gmail.com